Who Should I Start? Michael Mayer or Luke Musgrave

Sunday, January 4, 7:54 AM

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer should continue to operate in a high-volume role during Sunday's Week 18 contest against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders recently placed Brock Bowers (knee) on injured reserve, ending his season and putting Mayer into the starting role for the final two games of the year. Last weekend, he exploded as the top target in Geno Smith's offense, catching nine of 10 targets for 89 yards. In total, throughout the three games that Bowers has missed and Mayer has played this year, the latter tight end has 15 catches, 149 yards, and one touchdown. A quarterback change is expected in Week 18, though, as Kenny Pickett steps in for the injured Smith (ankle). Pickett struggled to the tune of 64 yards and one turnover in his lone start this year, but he should still be able to support a fantasy-relevant role for Mayer on Sunday. At worst, Mayer will operate as a security blanket in case Pickett struggles to throw the ball deep or needs to get the ball out quickly. As it stands, he ranks as the overall TE8 in RotoBaller's latest fantasy football rankings for Week 18.

Thursday, December 25, 6:56 PM

Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave could see a further uptick in his workload for the Packers in Week 17 as Green Bay takes on Baltimore on Saturday at Lambeau Field. Musgrave saw his highest percentage of routes per dropback this season in Week 16, running a route on 84% of dropbacks. That was primarily due to John FitzPatrick (Achilles) leaving the game because of his injury, and Musgrave seeing that time on the field with Green Bay's TE3 Josh Whyle inactive. Musgrave should see the bulk of the snaps and routes for the tight end position in Week 17, but the murky quarterback situation with Jordan Love (shoulder/concussion) and Malik Willis (shoulder/illness), both questionable, makes it difficult to recommend Musgrave. Consider Musgrave a very risky play for fantasy managers in Week 17.